THE SAN BENITO AUCTION
Nowadays it should not surprise anyone that many religions are given to using animals in their celebrations, and we know a lot about that in the Iberian Peninsula.
In Galicia we have a few, but the feast of San Benito is worth mentioning. It is a celebration that takes place on July 11 in the Rías Baixas, in which neighbors donate animals to the saint and then auction them and thus get a good money that becomes part of the piggy bank of the chapel or church in question.
In the early years the animals auctioned were roosters and "kikas", but depending on the town, goats, sheep, lambs and even some calves have also started to be added.
The animals arrive early in the morning, usually tied and put in bags or boxes that are left in a small shed. The roosters are tied by the legs and laid out on the ground, while the larger animals are tied to any place where the rope that holds them in place can be hooked.
Once the mass is over and the saint has been walked around the chapel, the bidding area begins to be prepared. Depending on the village, a priest or another individual takes a microphone with a small high-powered loudspeaker and, going up to the highest area, announces the beginning of the auction of the donated animals.
The animals are then brought out one by one, and the bids are marked by the starting price set by the priest, usually around 20 to 30 euros depending on how "beautiful the rooster is".
The prices, often bid by children whose parents cannot refuse, can easily double the starting price. The prices of the other animals are usually higher, reaching payments of 150 to 200 euros for lambs or goats.
Once the bidding is over, each buyer takes the animals, without worrying about how. Some use the boxes where they arrived, others look for or ask for bags, but it is also common to see others who carry them with their hands and put them directly into the trunks of cars.
During the auction the festive atmosphere is very present. The noise and bustle of children playing and shouting, adults visibly affected by alcohol and pyrotechnics provoke an enormous state of anxiety in the animals: the roosters will peck at each other if they are too close together, some will beat their wings until they are exhausted and can be seen in a state of total submission. The other animals often face walls and corners and run around disoriented when taken out for auction. When it comes to smaller and older animals, signs of stress and disorientation are clearly visible.
It seems that in order to feed the saint, animals have to be sacrificed.
Work by Ruth Montiel Arias
Published in August 2022